There, there, vunderbob. I can empathize. My basement is full of crap too, and I don’t even want to consider how much more crap there is in the upstairs.
I’m trying to take it slowly, as we plan to move by August or so. Right now my son and I are doing a clean sweep-type thing on each room. The goal is to get rid of at least 70% of all the stuff upsttairs, and basically ALL of the basement stuff.
My advice is: Get rid of absolutely everything you can, unless you need it to sit on, sleep on, or eat from. Don’t feel guilty about throwing anything away; this is a one-time thing, and you can be more environmentally aware later.
Of course, the above advice is easy for me to hand out, because we have mostly yardsale junk that I can replace for next to nothing. If you have good stuff, you’ll want to keep it, naturally. I just really like the idea of moving into an EMPTY (or nearly so) home.
Good luck, friend. I’ll be thinking of you, and holler if you need a hand.
Best,
karol